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| Who would've thought that Eko was a Bat-Mite created character all along |
| Note: I have been writing this comments on and off for many days now, so the consistency of my writing style and / or attention to detail may vary. I could rewrite some parts of it to fix that, but I also want to finish it before the naxt episode releases. (I think it's obvious why.) Writing it has already taken a long time and I don't think it's necessary to refine it too much in the first place. Think of this comment more like a brainstorming board and less like a structured essay (even if the length suggests otherwise...) Enjoy! Extra Note: I found a really small but neat detail at around 15:12 I did not find a good spot to add this in the main comment body, so it lives here now! This is my favorite episode so far! I want to give this season a 10/10 right now, but I will restrain myself and give it a temporary 9/10. I have a LOT to say about this episode (most of the time I have a lot, this time I have a LOT), so my comments will be in chronological order. First things first, in the pre-opening scene, the true God didn't recognise Gorō. This probably means that Gorō did not exist in the original world, he was created by the KamiErabi to be the new God. Maybe Fool's Sutra is a recreation of God's power, not unlike Higaki's ability, which he explicitly states is a "cheap knockoff" of His power. (Note: I was calling the person who turned into Iyo "He", but it's getting confusing now that God has appeared so I'll start calling him "Iyo") It's a possible theory of mine that the people meant to oppose God have abilities that are in some way a part of His own power. I'm not sure how Lall's power of stealing abilities fits into this, because abilities are just creations of the KamiErabi, but I guess we'll see. I like the lines: "What are you doing?! Helping people is not part of your character!" "I'm not saving a random person. You are one of the people to whom Ryō entrusted this world. And loving my sister IS part of my character." Though I don't know what's the meaning of: "The fact that I can use this ability again means Ryō's power transferred to me." We haven't seen power transfer except with Lall. He says he's been trying to open an exit, so it's obvious he can theoretically create and manipulate parallel worlds, but at least that one was overtaken by the true God. Still not completely, though Higaki is likely to lose his fight. But can he actually create parallel worlds now? Because without parallel worlds there is only one copy of him and if it dies... he won't return. I thought Ama's ability specifically created a boxing ring around him and his target, which in turn disabled their abilities. But in this episode (and the previous one) he froze in place the things attacking them. (I'm not sure what to call them... godrones will do!) I guess he can not only disable abilities, but anything that would not result in a physical fight, including godrones, as they are part of His power. On top of that, he is not required to place his lasers(?) as the ropes of a ring, he can even place them on their own as he is doing in this episode. To me Ama's ability seemed very restricted, yet now... it seems OP (as most KamiErabi powers seem at first glance). You might be wondering why Chika's explosions aren't disabled, but I'd argue it makes sense that he's deleting the lasers right before the explosions. Akitsu's ability is confusing me once again. It seems like he stopped time only for the godrones. So from their perspective time has been skipped. His ability gets more and more general as the episodes progress, so I'm not going to try to explain it until the end of the series (probably). I'm starting to think that the KamiErabi may have extended their abilities now that the true God has appeared. We'll see whether that's true or not. Speaking of Akitsu, he made an interesting comment when Lall and Kyō returned: "Dunno why, I had a feeling you'd be back. But I guess there were also timeline where you did die..." I seems like one of jokes you want to laugh at but probably shouldn't. If you don't get what I mean he's basicaly saying: "I've seen you survive many things. I guess I've also seen you die sometimes, but I'd have just left for another timeline again if you had died" Or in other words: "I don't care if you die. I'll just find another version of you that doesn't die." Which is savage, but also true. He has all the time he needs to find a good future. If Lall dies in one of them it doesn't really matter. It's interesting how his perception has changed after traveling across timelines for so long. It's a bit like he got spoiled about the ending! It's also sad if you think about how many times he had to deal with Lall being annoying and try to make her collaborate with the others. And he had to do so, 'cause, as he says later, she is of great importance. She's the only one who can use everyone's abilities to resurrect Gorō. I'm not 100% sure what's the meaning of "What did the me you met in the past say was going to save the world?". After skimming through the end of episode 3 I didn't see anything that matches. He could be referring to Gorō and when he told her to protect him (the closest scene to the one shown) or it could be something he wanted to say and forgot to do so. He wouldn't be expecting to actually choose this timeline in the end, and it wouldn't be an issue anyway if when he returns he doesn't say exactly what he wanted; as long as it's close enough. I would have liked to have seen Lall's reaction here. It would make it more clear which of the two is the case. "Welcome to the party of fools rebelling against God." Could not have thought of a better name! Keita said that he hasn't seen Kyō in a long time (and Kyō recognised Keita too), but I don't remember seeing them ever meet. Kyō has not existed for 12 years, so the latest it could have happened is right before the fight between Kyō and Gorō. I also don't know why they would need to meet either! Higaki approached Keita sometime after the fight (rescuing him from the South Pole). So he must have known Ryō and Kyō from somewhere else. Interesting... I will keep that in mind. "A capable guy gets stuff done ahead of schedule.", "They say the truth goes unseen by fools." I love Keita quotes! He's slowly becoming one of my favorite characters! I have some comments about the scene of them getting into the facility. First of all, how can a helicopter enter such a narrow entryway? I don't know much about helicopter mechanics, but that seems hard to me! It's also fascinating to watch how everyone reacts while they are descending:
When they entered the elevator I was not expecting my elevator music to be ads! I'm so happy I'm not watching this on TV... This cliffhanger would have been especially annoying! You're about to learn the most important piece of info in your favorite anime and then... If you've still reading this monster of a comment, I means you must be as much of a KamiErabi fun as me. So consider subscribing to... jk! No more beating around the bush, it's time to get to the meat and potatoes! (These English expressions sound so weird...) As Higaki explains to Keita, Eko is a character created by the true God, as a means for Him to exist and manipulate the new world. She is an avatar the true God is playing this "game" as. Eko is most of the time reacting as her "character sheet" dictates, but if need be the true God is able to force her to act as He sees fit; like the way a player can make their in-game avatar do something unnatural for them. This is the reason why Eko acts differently at different times, as in some cases she is controlled by the true God. BUT the reason this episode is my favorite of the show (at a minimum!) is because it's revealed that the true God is not really a character in it, yet a personification of the story's author, Yoko Taro himself! (I don't know why she said she did Series Comp, probably a mistranslation.) That explains why Eko seems to be able to twist logic, like forcing Keita to have a flashback or deleting / creating characters. He is the one writing the story. Logical consistency is not a requirement, only a suggestion to him! This is why I'm so excited about next week's episode! (It's coming out in less than 24 hours by the time of writing!) Anything could happen at this point and as long as it's presented well, I will be a fun! Speaking of presentation, the last thing I want to talk about is how the reveal was presented. Akitsu knows that the KamiErabi exists in the new world and that getting to its location is important for the defeat of the true God. We enter the facility, Keita gives an epic speech, mysterious music is playing and then... The music stops as if by a glitch, Keita as surprised as the viewer turns around, yet no one is to be found. The elevator is clearly framed by the camera as it's descending for a second time. But they just came down, it had no time to go back up! Something is definitely not normal, yet before we can realise what's happening, a familiar figure appears through the elevator door. We hear Eko's voice as she walks towards Keita who takes a defensive stance. How did she get here? The last we saw her was... And then we realise... we have not seen her for the last two and a half episodes! But... is it really her? She says she was sleeping and saw a weird dream. And now she's asking if we know anything about it... looking straight at us... The screen is separated in half by a red line, signifying that Eko is not the same as any other character like Keita... Keita continues as if he didn't hear the question at all. In the mean time, we see that Eko is now on top of the red line... While she was previously on the other side of it as Keita she shows she's not restrained by it. Now Keita is looking at us... He's saying something about our father?! Why would a fictional character know our real father?! And this facility is our father's?! So we respond: "Um, my father what? Sorry, but, well, I'm not sure what you're talking about." Near the end of the sentence we see the whole picture again. We see the facility again and Eko is demanding an answer to her question. But Keita is now looking directly at us as he has realised our presence. We're not supposed to be there and interact with the characters... Yet he's unable to say what he wants, he can only say his character's lines again, while Eko tilts her head, to get more centered in the frame. And then... she's seemingly back to normal? But it's an illusion! He's stepped out of the story again and plainly declares he's its author. He has full control over his creation. There is nothing we can do about it and he is playing with us right now to demonstrate that fact. If he wants to be in his story, he can. If he wants us to be part of it, he can make us. If he wants a character to say something, he makes them. If he thinks a part of the story is cliché, he reaches across the line, takes that part out and replaces it with whatever he wants. If he declares that the story has lost its focus, he rewrites it. What do you think you're doing? You think you can influence the story? He wants a flashback to be placed here, "mental imagery" or something. In this episode, we learn that twelve years ago Keita was rescued by Higaki from the South Pole. Higaki says that Keita made a recent cyberattack with drones and the press conference Keita is talking about must be the one at the end of ep 12. So these events must take place right after the end of Season 1. (I thought that Keita was at the South Pole for years, but it might be just hours!) Higaki then asks Keita to look after God who has taken the form of a girl and is now locked in a safe. That girl is "a twist of reason", his avatar. Higaki continues by mentioning the old world and how the KamiErabi created a new one... but why is Keita not surprised? Oh, it makes sense! Of course, the events in this flashback are warped so that it's easy for him to understand... The flashback is over. It's silly when I cut it so abruptly, but there is not much time left; the next episode is coming out soon! That's enough of my rambling about this episode. I'm just gonna finalise this comment quickly. Time is almost up. Now where are the other users' replys? Oh, they are written down below ⬇️⬇️⬇️. Oh, sorry! The time I have to write this is about to run out, so... See you in the next episode discussion! 😉 |
| Even in Ryo's parallel world, Higaki requests of Kyo and Lall's escape while he faces God, and they escape with ease...though to the AI facility of where it all began and finding Eko being in a transcending state and being able to control the circumstances (even breaking the 4th wall towards the end), who'd knew that she'd be the one... Batshit insane now. |
KANLen09Dec 15, 1:43 PM
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| cute and unexpected; of course taro would take the fourth wall approach, which doubles against the AI and the viewer ourselves. I was wondering what happened to her but got caught up in the A, B, and C lines that I didn't consider a D. |
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